INJURED TEEN FILES CLAIM AGAINST CITY

Former Heritage baseball player reportedly suffered brain injury in crash that killed friend

A passenger in the single-vehicle crash that killed a former Heritage High School football star has filed a claim against the city of Menifee seeking $13 million in damages.

Greg Gonsalez reportedly suffered a brain injury when the vehicle he was traveling in crashed into a traffic signal pole at McCall Boulevard and Junipero Road. His attorney, Jeffrey S. Pop, alleges that dangerous road conditions led to the crash and Gonsalez’s injuries.

“It’s a big number because this young man was catastrophically injured, and I don’t believe he will ever recover to what he once was,” Pop said.

Gonsalez, 19, was in a Ford Explorer traveling east on McCall on June 6 when the driver lost control and veered off the road into a traffic signal pole on the south side of the road, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Donovan Adams, a former Heritage football star, died before firefighters arrived.

The driver, Michael Navarrete, also a recent Heritage graduate, was treated for minor injuries, while Gonsalez and 18-year-old Joel Connor Fritz were left in critical condition after the crash, which occurred three days before they were set to graduate from Heritage.

A month earlier, Gonsalez had helped Heritage’s varsity baseball team reach the playoffs as the Patriots’ leading hitter. The crash, however, left the infielder in a coma for several weeks and in the hospital for six months, his attorney said. He is now undergoing both physical and cognitive rehabilitation, Pop said, adding that Gonsalez has no recollection of the crash.

At the time of the crash, a sheriff’s spokesman said speed was a factor. Pop said this week that his office has yet to receive a copy of the police report.

The attorney said that, according to his research, there have been at least 11 crashes in recent years at that location.

The Beverly Hills-based attorney said the intersection’s design — a single lane in both directions with a 6 percent grade, a 55 mph speed limit and an unprotected traffic signal pole after the road curves around a bend — make the location especially dangerous. Gonsalez was a backseat passenger in the vehicle, which was trying to avoid a collision when it rammed into the traffic signal pole, according to the claim.

“We have a high-speed road that comes over a hill leading to a signal on a downhill grade, and it’s a two-lane road with a signal that attempts to control traffic” near Boulder Ridge Middle School, Pop said. “It presents a hazard because there’s nowhere to go if cars have to stop and avoid each other.”

The traffic signal at that intersection was completed in October 2005, before Menifee was incorporated, according to City Clerk Kathy Bennett. She added that the city’s claims adjuster was still reviewing the claim that Pop filed Dec. 5.

“It’s a tragedy,” Pop said. “But sometimes things happen, and sometimes they are not always what they appear to be. Right now, we are waiting to see” what the police report is going to say.

Gonsalez’s parents did not return messages from The Californian seeking comment.